


I'm Not Going Anywhere

by rowofstars



Series: Once Upon a Ficlet [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Ficlet, Fluff, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 09:56:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8323471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rowofstars/pseuds/rowofstars
Summary: For leni-ba who prompted: Swanfire. “I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.” For the angsty fic prompt meme.





	

**Author's Note:**

> From my much better than the real thing AU where Neal lives. Set post-Dark Swan. No one is the Dark One.

“Hey, hey,” Neal said as he hurried into Emma’s room and sat on the side of the bed.

Just like the night before, and the night before that, she had awakened sweating and scared with a scream in her throat. He held her shoulders and kept his eyes on her as she breathed in and out like Dr. Hopper had showed her. Neal breathed with her until she calmed down, though her heart was still pounding.

“Was it the same as before?” he asked.

She nodded and reached for him, shaking as she pulled him into a hug.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he cooed in her ear. His hand rubbed up and down her back while the other cradled her head. “I’m right here, Em. I’m not going anywhere.”

They stayed like that until Emma pulled away and laid back down. As had become their routine, Neal kicked off his slippers and crawled into bed, laying behind her but not touching. This was how it had been since she’d had the Dark Curse purged from her, every night new terrors tormented her until she woke up in a state. They hadn’t shared a bed except for this, and that was okay with Neal. Whatever it took for her to get better he would do. Henry was safe, their family was safe, Storybrooke was safe. They both agreed that was what mattered, though Neal wished Emma was in that list too. His father had warned them it would be no picnic, and he would know. He was only just getting over the nightmares himself.

The next night, Emma wandered into her room well after everyone else had gone to bed. The nightmares robbed her of sleep in more ways than one. They made her afraid to go sleep, and then woke her with nightmares when she did. Frowning, she stopped by the side of the bed and turned around, looking to the window. At the top, dangling off an old nail, just barely visible behind the thin white curtain, was a dream-catcher. But it wasn’t one she remembered making when she was the Dark One, and all of those had been burned in a fit of her rage anyway. Carefully, she reached up and touched the feathers that hung from the end. In between them was something metal, and when she caught it with her fingertips and turned it around, she almost started crying. Her swan pendant.

In the morning, she woke up to a strange noise, and rolled over to find Neal asleep and snoring on the other side of the bed. She kicked his calf with her foot and he grumbled.

“Wha-?”

“You’re in my bed,” she said, smirking slightly. A whole night’s sleep with no dreams, no nightmares, had done her a lot of good. Seeing Neal’s face first thing was pretty okay too.

Neal smiled sleepily and pushed himself up on his elbows. “Yeah, well, I thought I’d be proactive, you know.”

Emma smiled and ruffled his hair, which made him frown and roll away.

“Pancakes?” he asked, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed and sitting up.

She nodded and he grinned. They headed downstairs to start breakfast before her parents and Henry could wake up, while upstairs in the window, the sunlight caught the shiny metal pendant and sent light dancing around the room.


End file.
